AllFreeNovel
Share Us
“Evelyn!” His breath left his lungs, and his heart must have stopped beating. A cold numbness washed over him from head to toe, and for a moment he couldn’t move. Then he rushed to where the tip of his capote stuck out from under one of the countless rocks that had piled up here in the slide.
Alex dropped to his knees. He pushed against the stone with his shoulder, leaning his entire weight into the massive object, grunting in frustration. It wouldn’t budge. Frantically, he dug at the dirt around the rock with his bare hands. His fingertips and knuckles soon tainted the ground with his blood, scraped raw from the hard ground. The pain only drove him to greater effort. It was no use. The earth below the boulder was hard and packed down.
Alex panted, and his chest heaved in painful spasms. He barely managed to scrape away several inches of dirt. Defeated, he sank to the ground, drawing his knees up to his chest.
“Evie,” he murmured. Abruptly, he turned and pounded his fists against the rock. “Evelyn,” he roared, his voice reverberating off the mountains. The sights and sounds around him ceased to exist. He slumped against the hard earth, pounding his fist repeatedly against the gravelly ground.
“I love you, Evie. You made me whole.” His voice cracked, whispering her name over and over. He cursed the Creator and everything around him, but most of all, he cursed himself. His life held no meaning. Everything he lived for lay buried under the rock he leaned against.
Chapter 20
Laurent strained against the leather binding his hands behind his back. Discreetly, his eyes scanned the camp. Leaning against the trunk of a lodgepole pine, he slowly worked his wrists up and down along the rough bark of the tree. For several hours, he’d sat here already, and his efforts seemed to produce some favorable results. The ties didn’t bite quite as painfully into his flesh, and he hoped to work his hand through one of the loops very shortly. Breaking through the leather would be impossible. The pain was a small price to pay in order to be free.
Quietly, he listened to the three men sitting around the campfire a short distance away. Oliver Sabin tilted his head back, taking a long drink from the leather bag in his hand. Soon, these men would be drunk enough to fall asleep. Or so Laurent hoped. Sabin had made a grave mistake when he boasted that he wanted to keep Laurent alive to prolong his death. Apparently the man still held a grudge for not handing Evelyn over to him.
Although it had been unfortunate that he had been found out as a spy against the American Fur Company, Laurent had gained valuable information in the process. Two days ago, he had met with a couple of the men who considered him one of their own. It hadn’t been until Oliver Sabin showed up in their camp that his cover had been revealed. Without warning, Sabin had pointed a pistol at his head, and ordered the other men to disarm and bind him. How had Sabin known that he was a spy?
Laurent shook his head. No matter now. He would get his answers. Whiskey quickly loosened a man’s tongue. He only needed to ask, and Sabin was all too eager to boast, and share his information with him.
“Laurent, you French bastard, the very person you tried to keep from me is the one who gave you away,” Sabin had slurred, waving the pistol in front of his face. “That sweet little morsel that you bartered away at rendezvous told her dear brother.” He laughed. “She was supposed to be mine,” he shouted, spittle drooling from his mouth. “Henry Lewis told me I could have her, after I staged his death. And then I was supposed to kill her.”
Laurent quickly processed the information in his mind. Henry Lewis was alive? He was the man behind the cargo thefts against the Rocky Mountain Fur Company? Anger surged through him. Evelyn had grieved for him. He would have handed his own sister over to men like Sabin.
“Mademoiselle Evelyn, she was in on the plan, no?” he asked with narrowed eyes, hoping Sabin would supply him with more answers. The man laughed scornfully.
“Of course not. Stupid Lewis tried to marry her off back in St. Charles to be rid of her. A few weeks ago, after I met up with him, I finally thought I’d get my chance at her, but he refused.” He swayed back and forth, taking another swig from the whiskey bag. He leered at Laurent. “Damn big wig told me he was taking her back to St. Charles. The man she was supposed to marry threatened to expose Henry to Jed Smith’s outfit if she doesn’t, so he had to come back to find her.”
Sabin leaned toward Laurent. The smell of whiskey and foul breath nearly choked him. “Lewis sent me here to kill you, Laurent. We can’t have you exposing the operation. Soon, I’ll take care of that corncracker in St. Charles, and then that trapper’s whore will be mine.” His ugly sneer gaped at him.
